The 30-year-old Weiss was limited to playing just 17 games during the shortened season in Florida, a year after he had 20 goals and 57 assists for the Panthers. He had wrist surgery in March, three months before the Red Wings wasted no time adding him to the roster.

Weiss, who is from Toronto, has 145 goals and 394 points in his career that began with the Panthers during the 2001-02 season. He had a career-high 61 points during the 2008-09 season and scored a career-high 28 goals the next year.

Florida drafted Weiss No. 4 overall in 2001 while he was playing for the Plymouth Whalers in suburban Detroit.

“It is neat to come back to a city where I played before and watched the Wings, and wondered about playing for the franchise one day,” he said. “It’s kind of surreal.”